02 September 2024
Für trans*Menschen geht es um alles
Rechte Kräfte in den USA, Polen und Ungarn führen in Echtzeit vor, was trans*Menschen auch in Deutschland drohen könnte, wenn die AfD an die Regierung käme. In Ungarn ist es inzwischen unmöglich, den rechtlichen Geschlechtseintrag oder vergeschlechtlichte Vornamen im Laufe des Lebens zu ändern, also irgendeine Veränderung der staatlich erfassten Informationen über das eigene Geschlecht zu bewirken. Im US-Bundesstaat Idaho wurde dieses Jahr ein Gesetz verabschiedet, das rechtlich definiert, dass es bei Menschen ausschließlich die beiden Geschlechter Männer und Frauen gäbe und dieses Geschlecht bereits vor oder bei der Geburt erkennbar sei. Diesem Drehbuch will auch die AfD folgen, wenn sie an die Macht käme. Continue reading >>
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26 June 2024
The Lighthouse of EU Law Shines on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
Last week, legal scholars from all over the world met in Freiburg at the ConTrans conference. On the one end of the spectrum, scholars like Woijcech Sadurski advocated for a revolutionary approach, simply dismantling the current Tribunal and re-building it from scratch. On the other end stands Adam Bodnar, who stressed the importance of legality in the transition process. In my view, EU law shines a possible way ahead – it can justify disregarding the Tribunal’s decisions and empower ordinary courts to assume the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. Eventually, this would lead to a decentralised constitutional review. Continue reading >>
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16 December 2021
Governance or Revolution?
The call from Andrew Arato and Andras Sajó starts an important and timely debate. It is indeed a thorny question in which cases a formal breach of constitutional norms is the only way to restore constitutionalism. I make three claims: First, while the potential opposition government’s legislative power will indeed be constrained, it will not be entirely powerless. Second, many of these constraints do not stem from constitutional provisions per se, but from informal practices within constitutional organs, and thus cannot be addressed by only formal constitutional changes, revolutionary or otherwise. Third, in the present situation a calculated formal breach of the constitution will most likely lead to civilian strife, political paralysis and radicalization. It will also have the potential to destabilize the European Union. Continue reading >>
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15 June 2021
No Country for ‘Old Men’
On 2 June 2021, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a bill on the status of oligarchs before the Ukrainian parliament. The bill would have wide-ranging implications. It does not only provide a definition of who counts as an oligarch but also provides measures to reduce the influence of oligarchs in media and public life. Continue reading >>
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04 January 2021